Friends of Fire Mountain

Protect, Preserve, and Improve Fire Mountain

Category Archives: City Meetings


by 3 Comments

City of Oceanside Brings Back Electronic Billboard Debate

lamar-digital-billboardThe Oceanside City Council is considering the LA / Vegas style billboards once again. You may remember, the request for an electronic billboard at state route 78 and Rancho Del Oro was shut down last year  – this time there are two up for approval at SR 78 / Rancho Del Oro and SR 76/ Airport Rd, and Oceanside residents are  not happy.

The brightly lit, flashing, 60 ft. high (6 stories) by 30 ft. wide billboards are are proposed on city owned property and as the petition says, residents have multiple reasons to be concerned:

  • Distractions to drivers – traffic and accidents on the 78 and 76 are already a strain and a danger to drivers
  • Effects on the surrounding homes and environment
  • Opening the doors for more – once billboards are approved, more are likely to follow
  • Blight in the City of Oceanside – billboards only add a cheap and cluttered look to our seaside community

Community members are circulating the petition below and you can help keep those tacky billboards out of Oceanside.
Please email the city council today!
Council@ci.oceanside.ca.us
Be sure to Include your Name and Street Address (to verify residency) and the Subject: NO Electronic Billboards!
Send the petition below or write your own personal email.

To read more on the subject follow the link to the Union Tribune or Coast News articles.

anti-billboard petition

Advertisement


by Leave a comment

I5/78 Interchange Plans Could End Beach Access from Fire Mountain

Screen Shot 2015-02-28 at 8.26.56 PM

If you’ve been following the planning of the widening of I-5, specifically the I-5/78 interchange, you know it’s hurtling into our neighborhood faster than any speeding car, truck or van on the I-5 freeway.

A meeting took place last month in Carlsbad for public comment, but one has not been held in Oceanside, so we’ve gathered as much of the mountain of information as possible below:

There have been several conversations with Cal Trans and there are still many open questions. We’ve been following the discussion from both the South O Residents Association and Shari Mackin on nextdoor.com and want to share some of the highlights (or lowlights, depending on your outlook).  But to stay up to date, be sure to either follow the updates on nextdoor.com or sign up for alerts and info by signing up on the google form here.

Cal Trans has received well over 100 comments during the community meeting in Carlsbad. They are still reviewing/studying the comments which will lead them to the project/s they will present to study at the Scoping Meeting which she states will be held in late May or early June 2015.

CalTrans will continue to accept and review public comments/input regarding which alternative/s they will study. According to CalTrans, comments continue to “trickle” in. Please note, added to the scenarios is a NO BUILD option.

If you were unable to attend the meeting in Carlsbad, please complete the attached Comment Slip and return to CalTrans via email. You can review the information here: http://keepsandiegomoving.com/I-5-Corrid…

Email your Comment Slip (if you can’t scan and upload, cut and paste into an email) to:Karen.Jewel@dot.ca.gov

Finally, PLEASE email your council members asking that they request that the Scoping Meeting is held in OCEANSIDE! We will have the majority of impacts and we are one of the largest cities in San Diego County – council@ci.oceanside.ca.us

Our representative to SANDAG (Mayor Jim Wood) and Alternate Council Member Chuck Lowery) should be able to work with CalTrans to have the meeting in Oceanside.

From the most recent emails we’ve received here are the overviews of Worst-case scenarios and the issues they present:

Continue reading →


by Leave a comment

North Oceanside Double Track Project – Public Meeting

On Wednesday, October 9, 2013 the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the North County Transit District (NCTD) will hold an informational public meeting addressing the North Oceanside Double Track Project.  The meeting will take place at Oceanside High School from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm. According to the web site:

SANDAG meeting inviteThe project will eventually replace the aging single-track rail bridge over the San Luis Rey River with a modern, concrete double-track bridge and add a one-mile stretch of second main track that will join two existing double-track segments together. When complete, the project will create 10.3 miles of continuous double track along the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Corridor.

The project is part of a larger effort to improve Amtrak and COASTER passenger services by adding a second track to the 60-mile segment of the LOSSAN (Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo) rail corridor in San Diego County.

SANDAG also is collaborating with the City of Oceanside to:

  • Improve the bike and pedestrian undercrossing on the south side of the San Luis Rey River rail bridge 
  • Redesign the car and pedestrian undercrossing adjacent to the Oceanside Harbor
  • Construct street median improvements at Surfrider Way to support a future Quiet Zone in Oceanside that would limit train horn noise

This is just one of many projects involving to the train system through Oceanside and the LOSSAN corridor.  Back in June the two organizations hosted a public meeting to discuss (in our opinion) long overdue updates to the Oceanside Transit Center. While most improvements are specific to increasing the number of trains able to board and pass through at any one time, a few updates to the station and it’s amenities were also discussed.

We’re always hopeful that there will be more options available for public transit, especially commuter-style trains, but we’re also skeptics of the dent this will make in the jammed I-5 traffic (especially in the summer) What’s the solution? All I can say is…HYPERLOOP!

FOFM.com would love to hear  your thoughts on transportation options affecting North County and beyond, so click on the “Leave a Comment” link next to the title of this article and let us know what YOU think!


by Leave a comment

A Rad Way to End 2008

Yep, I said rad. Some of our Fire Mountain  locals helped plan the new MLK skatepark (as well as the two others going in at a later date) and we are psyched to have a new spot for the young-uns (and old dudes) to shred.

Oceanside is starting to plan for the future of our young people and we all appreciate that. Let’s keep it rolling!